Set a couple years (IIRC) before the events of the game, the movie focuses on Yuri and Flynn’s first experiences as members of the guard; from the game we know that something caused Yuri to leave the guard and strike out on his own, but we don’t know exactly what it was (Or maybe we do; I haven’t played the game in over a year and I might be misremembering).

The movie is animated by Production IG; their work on the Ghost in the Shellmovies and TV series was of the highest quality (and some damn good SF, to boot). They’ve animated the cutscenes and cinematics in many of the Tales of games as well, and are particularly known for their ability to blend computer graphics and more traditional animation.

Lately I’ve been watching anime more and more on Hulu and Netflix, but I think that this might deserve a purchase.